A Husky or a Cougar next winter?

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Where will Shelby Hembera play basketball next season?It's a question that might not be resolved until next winter. But she's exploring options now.A high-scoring junior-to-be at numbers-challenged Cedar Valley Christian, Hembera is playing summer-league ball both for the Huskies and for Cedar Rapids Kennedy."There have been a few conflicts, but for the most part, I've been able to make it work," said the slender 6-footer.This is certain: Hembera will remain a student at Cedar Valley. What's in question is whether the Huskies will have enough players for a team in 2013-14."It's going to be tight again," said CVCS Coach Craig Foote. "We're looking at five or six girls."There's help on the way, good-sized (and talented) groups in seventh and eighth grade. One of those eighth-graders is Hembera's sister Molly."When (Shelby) plays with those girls, they're rock stars," Foote said.Problem is, they can't play high school ball until they're in high school. If Cedar Valley falls short of fielding a team, Hembera will be free to play for the public school in the district in which she resides.Hembera is a Hiawatha resident and would play for Kennedy under that scenario."I was really nervous meeting them and playing with them at first," she said. "I'm still trying to figure out everybody's name."The coach (Tony Vis) is nice, and I like the girls."Hembera said that if she plays at Kennedy as a junior, she will return to Cedar Valley for her senior season, assuming the Huskies can field a team in 2014-15.With or without Hembera, Kennedy figures to be stacked next season. The Cougars return the majority of its lineup from a team that went 15-8.CVCS was 4-17, winning its first-round district game against Lone Tree. Hembera averaged 22 points and 9.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore, 16 points and 8.6 rebounds as a freshman.Cedar Valley joins the Tri-Rivers Conference in the upcoming school year.